The Harrogate Arms Café has opened to the public today.
The site, which sits in the Royal Horticultural Society Harlow Carr Gardens, has been closed since 2014.
It was originally built in 1844 by the then-owner of the estate, Henry Wright, along with a Bath House.
During its time, it has seen many guises, including a hotel, Thai restaurant, nightclub and pub.
However, after the RHS bought the site in 2014, it set out to restore the two historic buildings.
Today, it reopened for the first time in a decade as a café.
The Harrogate Arms Café.
Conservative councillor of Killinghall, Hampsthwaite & Saltergate and mayor of Harrogate, Michael Harrison, cut the ribbon alongside Clare Matterson, the director general of the RHS to mark the occasion.
The RHS was granted listed building consent in 2019 and has since spent “several millions” on the renovation process, head of site Liz Thwaite said.
Liz Thwaite.
Ms Thwaite told the Stray Ferret:
“The RHS didn’t have the internal funding for the works back in 2014, but by 2019, when we got the building consent, the funding was then in place internally.
“There has been a lot of unforeseen issues along the way and things popped up that we didn’t expect, like bats roosting and wet weather.”
Inside the café.
Ms Thwaite said the horticultural charity decided to take on the project to “link both the Harrogate Arms and the Bath House back to their historic landscape”.
It wanted to give visitors a garden café, as well as the teahouse and Bettys, and offer “more space” to enjoy the gardens, she added.
A spokesperson for the RHS said at the opening sustainability is “at the core” of the charity and has been central to the renovation process.
They added the café will not offer plastic water bottles or single-use coffee cups, and uses Brazilian coffee from “one of 200 regenerative coffee farms”.
The coffee kiosk.
Ms Thwaite told the Stray Ferret:
“We’re feeling really, really excited about the opening.
“We had hoped it would open sooner, but due to weather issues it hasn’t been possible. But nevertheless we’re still so excited.
“I think customers are going to be delighted with it and it will help grow visitors and memberships to the site. People can walk around the garden and have a lovely coffee or lunch here.
“It will showcase what we grow, as well as offer an important message to encourage people to grow their own produce.”
The RHS hopes to use locally sourced produce at the Harrogate Arms Café, and will source a lot of ingredients from the Harlow Carr kitchen garden.
The charity is also undertaking 2-acres of landscaping works around the café, which includes planting mature tree and digging swales to manage rainfall.
The Harrogate Arms Café is officially open to the public.
It offers indoor and outdoor seating, as well and breakfast, lunch and all-day menus. The cafe will be open during summer garden operating hours (9.30am to 6pm) every day.
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Former Harrogate Arms to reopen as café tomorrow
The historic Harrogate Arms is set to reopen as a café tomorrow.
The grade two-listed building, which closed a decade ago, will finally be brought back to working order.
Originally built in 1844 by Henry Wright, the then-owner of the estate, the Harrogate Arms and Bath House were set in pleasure gardens, which are now part of The Royal Horticultural Society’s Garden Harlow Carr.
The Harrogate Arms had several faces during its time, including a hotel, inn, nightclub, restaurant and pub, before closing to the public in 2014.
But the RHS was granted listed building consent in 2019 to convert the site into a café.
The horticultural charity today said it has been “working hard to restore the premises”, which will offer indoor and outdoor seating, as well as a menu focused on “seasonal ingredients”.
It added the café will offer a breakfast, lunch and an all-day menu, along with artisan coffee.
The new landscape of RHS Garden Harlow Carr by planners Gillespies.
In a press release, the RHS said:
“Each day will feature a special menu utilising produce directly from our Kitchen Garden to champion the use of fresh ingredients.
“It will also showcase some fantastic ways for preserving foods from the garden from the summer so they can be used in the colder and less productive months. Think anything from pickled cucumber to chilli oils and kimchi!”
New jobs will be created as part of the café opening, the charity said, adding it hopes to use as much locally sourced produce as possible.
Liz Thwaite, head of RHS Garden Harlow Carr, also said:
“We can’t wait to re-open this building which holds so many memories for members of the local community and really look forward to welcoming them back to the brand new Harrogate Arms Café.
“This project has been a long time in the making, as we wanted to create something fresh and exciting for our visitors that celebrates our rich heritage.”
The Harrogate Arms Café will open to the public from around 11am tomorrow (April 25), an RHS spokesperson said.
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Harrogate and Ripon gardens win gold at Yorkshire in Bloom awards
Harrogate has been awarded a gold medal and been named a winner in the small city category at last night’s Yorkshire in Bloom awards.
The annual awards encourage communities of all sizes to use flowers to brighten up the landscape as well as foster community spirit and civic pride.
Although Harrogate is a town, it was entered in the ‘small city’ category due to the size of its population and took first place at a ceremony in Tadcaster.
Harrogate Borough Council maintains parks and green spaces across the district.
Harrogate Business Improvement District, which undertakes schemes to drive footfall to the town centre, also won a gold medal and was category winner in the BID division.
Harrogate’s Valley Gardens received a platinum award and Starbeck won a gold medal in the urban community category.
There was success too for Ripon, which took a platinum award for Spa Gardens, a silver gilt award for the city itself and a discretionary award for the best platinum jubilee display.
The Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park was awarded a Gold Medal in the Tourist Attractions Award category and a Best Conservation Project Award.
Joel Dibb, Head Gardener said:
“The Garden suffered devastating tree losses last winter due to the disease Phytophthora ramorum. The team took up the challenge to replant and move on from this distressing event and have had a busy year selecting and replanting trees.
The discretionary Conservation Project Award recognises all this hard work and the wildlife conservation we do to keep the garden wildlife friendly.”
A post on Harrogate in Bloom’s Facebook page said:
“Well done to all our local community groups and to the team at Harrogate Borough Council – here’s to further success in 2023!”
Yorkshire in Bloom is a charity incorporated organisation and a regional body representing the RHS Britain in Bloom campaign that is organised by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Judges assess criteria developed by the RHS in consultation with the regions.
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Building work to convert the former Harrogate Arms pub on Crag Lane into a cafe has moved a step closer.
The horticultural charity RHS bought the building in 2014 and received planning permission in 2019 to create a ground floor cafe and kitchen facilities to serve visitors of neighbouring RHS Harlow Carr.
It has now submitted a construction management plan to Harrogate Borough Council that gives details about how contractors will go about the conversion.
It says work will include the demolition of extensions, partitions, a boundary wall and low wall.
It will also involve the erection of three single-storey extensions and a boundary wall; reduction of floor levels; widening of entrance; removal of fire escape; installation of replacement doors, windows and fanlights; alterations to fenestration; formation and restoration of hard and soft landscaping.
Work on site will take place from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and from 8am to 1pm on Saturday. There will be no work on Sundays or Bank Holidays.
The council will now consider the plan.
Hotel, nightclub, restaurant and pub
The Harlow Car Hotel and Bath House was built in 1844 by two businessmen following the discovery of an ‘especially efficacious’ sulphur spring in the area.
The hotel was sold to Harrogate Corporation in 1915 and has gone through a number of incarnations since then, as a nightclub, restaurant and latterly a pub.
The building in 1930. Credit – Archant
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Sustainable menu
When the cafe opens in 2023, hospitality students from Harrogate College will devise the menu.
The students have been asked to use their culinary and creative skills to come up with a concept for a sustainable menu.
Fresh produce grown at the RHS gardens will feature prominently in the dishes.